Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2016 part 2
Time for my Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2016 recap, part 2! My last Post about this year’s winter Craft and Hobby Association Mega Show was about the Amazing Casting Products/Alumilite Corp booth at CHA, and this one will be of the booths and displays that really caught my eye. While there was so many more I didn’t get a chance to take photos of, thankfully many of the new products seen at CHA will be hitting craft and hobby stores in the next few months!
Spinrite Yarns, otherwise known as Yarnspirations, had a lovely color pallet of cable knit dresses with matching wigs made out of Caron yarn. The dresses were truly fashionable and designed for the modern woman.
The talented Megan Kreiner was signing copies of her book, Crochet a Farm: 19 Cute-as-Can-Be Barnyard Creations which after seeing her adorable creations in person I had to get a copy.
Along with her farm animals book she had crochet samples from her other book, Bathtime Buddies: 20 Crocheted Animals from the Sea, which this little Angler Fish pattern comes from.
The Angler Fish also has a rather cute Octopus buddy, that I just adore.
Simplicity Creative Group had a wonderful display of cosplay and costume patterns of comic book characters. Inspired by the new Daredevil series, they created a awesome Steampunk style female Daredevil using their current line of Steampunk costume patterns.
Since Simplicity now caries officially licensed Marvel Avengers patterns, Captain America and Thor costumes made an appearance along with a Thor inspired cocktail dress.
They also carry the classic DC Wonder Woman costume pattern and using their Steampunk mini dress and jacket pattern a Steampunk alternate reality version was made!
Not to be forgotten is the classic BatGirl costume pattern and an mod era BatGirl inspired party dress.
A welcomed surprise was Games Workshop, who had a booth in the new vendors section. Since I was young and started getting into painting and creating model miniatures I have bought their products. Originally their miniatures were metal but now they have highly detailed plastic figures and amazing line of non toxic acrylic paints that create so many finishes and textures. Their paints bond to many materials such as plastic, resin, polymer clay, metal and more!
I was graciously given this wonderful selection of Games Workshop’s minis and paints. I can’t wait to try them!
One of my favorite events at CHA is the Friday night Block Party they host right before the show opens. Great food, music, make n takes, prizes and networking, for sure a not-to-miss event! Here is a photo of my ever supportive husband and I, after a long day of booth setup enjoying the evening’s festivities. Without his help and friendship I wouldn’t be able continue with my art career.
See you at the next CHA!
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2016 part 1
Time for my Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2016 recap, part 1! CHA, otherwise know as the Craft and Hobby Association, has a Mega Trade Show once a year, full of arts and crafts manufacturers, new products, tech, demos, classes, designer showcases, new trends and networking galore.
In this part of the recap I will be focusing on the Amazing Casting Products/Alumilite Corp booth at CHA. The Amazing Casting Products Design Team, of which I am proud member of, was asked to submit some of our best projects to be showcased at their booth and to do demos. I took loads of photos of the booth so lets take a tour of the booth, see the artwork and meet the artists showcased!
First day of artists doing demos at the booth, Design Team Leader Susan M. Brown, Tina Walker, Melissa Johnson and I. It was so wonderful to see Susan again and finally meet Tina and Melissa in person!
Elena Lai Etcheverry of Charity Wings stopped by the booth to talk to President of Alumilite, Mike Faupel, about all of the crafty applications and products of the amazing Casting Products line!
This year I decided to create some booth samples showing not just traditional uses for resin but how Amazing Clear Cast can be applied to paper, canvas and dried plant life.
Here is a close up of my 16X20 Autumn canvas, I wanted to show how simple papercrafting supplies could create a lovely home decor piece. The base layer is canvas painted with acrylic paint, with a thin layer of Amazing Clear Cast, some glitter and tiny gold beads. To the second layer of resin I added Alumidust powders, more glitter, mica flakes and tiny paper leaves. The third and final layer had a base of glitter and top layer of resin to seal all of the embellishments in.
Here is my 16X20 Abstract canvas, which reminds me of a Nebula. I started by casting some cabochons in Amazing Casting Resin and Amazing Clear Cast tinted with Alumilite’s Dyes and metallic powders. I painted the canvas with acrylic paint and poured a layer of clear resin, placing the cabochons on the canvas, along with different glitters and small beads. The next two layers were applied in a manner similar to the Autumn canvas.
Mike Faupel commissioned these stunning wood and dyed resin pieces from an artist in Michigan. They were created by pouring Amazing Clear Cast over wood and carved on a wood lathe.
More of my jewelry and Remelt samples on display at the booth. The Mesoamerican necklace tutorial can be found here.
Here is a close up of some of the new resin jewelry pieces I made as booth samples for this year’s CHA show.
An associate of Mike Faupel created this wonderful and rather fun Pangaea chess set. It’s all made out of Amazing Casting Resin and molds made of Amazing Mold Rubber. The artist who created the set made sure each dinosaur had a different facial expression and were all hand painted!
Melissa Johnson‘s beautiful food safe hand painted resin plates were just lovely in person. You can see one of Brenda Burfeind‘s wine bottle shaped resin cheese platters next to the plates, to the left one of Lyn Gill‘s polymer and resin pendants, and on the right you can see one of Sandra Strait‘s hand painted mini fish ponds.
The booth was just full of beautiful Design Team artwork, from Susan M. Brown, Melissa Johnson, Lyn Gill, Maria Soto, Rachel Whetzel and more, along with pieces made by Cat Kerr; my photo doesn’t do her work justice so please make sure to hope over to her blog to see her work!
There was even more amazing work from Cat Kerr, Tina Walker, Sandra Strait, and Aimée Wheaton.
This beautiful model miniature was made of out Amazing Casting Products, from the rocks, water and inner core by the very talented Lloyd’s Layouts. Their use of resin and mold making products to create realistic miniature scenes is outstanding!
The handsome Santa in the background was made with Amazing Casting Resin and my “Cosmic Radiation” gown was on on display again at the booth
For demos at CHA I decided to show how to apply resin, powders, glitters and beads to acrylic painted mini 5X7 canvases. Each day of the show I showed to apply a new layer of resin with embellishments. People responded so well the demos I already have two orders for the mini canvas art!
Once home I sanded the edges of the canvases and prepared them for the final coat of resin. I can’t wait to make more.
Come back later for Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2016 post, part 2!
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2015 part 2
Time for my Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2015 recap, part 2! My last Post about this year’s winter Craft and Hobby Association Mega Show was mostly about Amazing Casting Products/Alumilite Corp., my samples and demos at the CHA. This post will be about some of the new products, booth designs and awesome artists at CHA!
I made sure to drop by the Linpeng International Inc./Fiona Accessories booth to visit with Fiona and Jimmy and to see their new beads for 2015. They had a wonderful selection of new tear drop crystal beads in all kinds of wonderful colors I had to order.
Along with the new mixed color strands of hand painted beads Fiona and Jimmy were happy to show some of their new Bohemian pendants and beading accessories. They buy beads from manufacturers from around the world so you can find a wide variety of beads from China, Japan, India, Czech, countries in Africa and more in their booth.
Linpeng beading supplies can be found at many craft and hobby stores, Fiona Accessories finished jewelry can be found at chain gift shops in the US and you can order their beads online.
Cousin Corporation of America had a stunning Fairy Tale themed booth display, which had a very Once Upon a Time feel to it. Cousin is starting new environmentally friendly improvements through recycling, conservation and sustainability. Their booth decor had elements acquired from thrift stores and upcycled art turned totally glamorous.
This lovely chain dress overlay had a wonderful temple dancer feel to it and I think with a soft cut black dress underneath it would be perfect for a Renaissance Fair!
Cousin’s new mixed bead hanks next to another one of their lovely necklace and fabric displays.
This bib necklace on display had a wonderful Southwestern riverbed feel. I loved the use of warm color tones with the cool color of turquoise.
Spellbinders had a huge and rather multifaceted booth, with loads of displays and make n takes. The display that stopped me in my tracks was the opulent display in their booth by A Gilded Life.
Spellbinders and A Gilded Life now have a licensed line of dies, bezels, pendants, jewelry findings and trims sold online and at art and craft stores. Photos do not do their work justice!
Midwest Design Imports, a whole distributor of boas, artificial birds & butterflies, craft items, and more, had a wonderful selection of fairy, woodland characters and glass minis in their booth. However what caught my eye was their very humorous and full of character line of artificial owls of all sizes. I think those adorable owls will be perfect for Autumn-themed craft classes and displays! A rather cool aspect about Midwest Design Imports is all the feathers they sell are byproducts of other industries, and would have otherwise been discarded.
I had to meet up with the talented Suzann Sladcik Wilson, book author and CEO of Beadphoria, Inc.. Cheerful and happy to talk about jewelry projects and ideas, Suzann was looking great in the The CHA Designers in Action Showcase event. Tiffany Windsor of Cool2Craft, on her way to the Showcase, decided to photobomb us, making it all the more fun!
Suzann had a lovely display of her soldering book, jewelry and upcycled necklace folding cards.
On the other side of her jewelry display Suzann’s first book and other beautiful beaded creations.
A new booth this year that I found the last day of CHA was Bead Fairy TV, owned and operated by Jolene Star (AKA the Bead Fairy). Specializing in bead tutorials, online classes, beading kits and more.
I just had to walk into her booth; the colors, beads and just positive feeling was addicting. Do check out her beading 101 videos on YouTube; they are fun, funky and bound to get you beading. You might also know Jolene her from her store Bazaar Star Beadery in New Jersey.
Spinrite Yarns otherwise known as Yarnspirations made a huge booth display showcasing yarn and amazing artistic talent. “Yarnia” as they called it was inspired by the theatrical versions of the The Chronicles of Narnia. The first yarn creation to greet you was Jadis, the White Witch in her battle gown.
Next was the Pevensie boys in their armor.
The White Witch in her snow gown with wolf companions.
Last but not least Mr. Tumnus, the faun and Lucy Pevensie at the lamp post.
There was so much more that I didn’t photograph but in the next few months I will be receiving my orders and trying out new crafting goodness with all the new products!
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2015 part 1
Now that I am mostly over the yearly cold the seems to lurk the halls of CHA, it is that time of year: my CHA Trade Show recap! CHA, otherwise know as the Craft and Hobby Association, has a Mega Trade Show every January, full of all kinds of wonderful arts and crafts manufacturers, demos, classes, meet and greets, designer showcases and new trends!
Since I am proudly part of their design team, this year Amazing Casting Products/Alumilite Corp. asked me to create some food samples using their new product Amazing Remelt and to do demos at their booth! My friend Jami Poe Bostjancic, a talented cake designer, taught me some of the ins and outs of fondant. As she noted, working with fondant has some similarities to polymer clay. I decided to make a sun and moon for a mini cake, mushrooms on a cinnamon and brown sugar cupcake, chocolate bunny and mini presents all out of fondant for the requested samples.
Fondant can easily be pushed into Amazing Remelt molds and then quickly popped out onto a cold cutting board to dry. Here I have prepped and readied my molds to be packed to go to CHA.
As per the website: “Amazing Remelt is a Non Toxic, 1-part reusable mold making material for room temperature or low exotherm materials. Amazing Remelt softens at 120°F and becomes liquid at 135°-140°F. It can be remelted and reused to make new molds time and time again. Ideal for making molds for smaller items such as jewelry, embellishments, and chocolate molds.”
I assisted Susan M. Brown, Amazing Casting Products Design Team Leader and awesome artist in her own right, in assembling the Amazing Casting Products Hot Product display. I was able to take some photos of the display before the end of booth set up on the Friday before the show.
Susan brought some awesome little signs and clips from Deflecto, which helped hold up and highlight signs and info about the Amazing Remelt. I seriously need to buy some of the Deflecto Craft Organizers and Sustainable Office products now that I know they work so well.
On Sunday the Craft and Hobby Association had a awesome gala event where they donated funds to charities and announced the winners of the Hot Product Categories! Amazing Casting Products/Alumilite Corp won Hot Product in Cake and Food Decorating at CHA for Amazing Remelt!
The Amazing Casting Products booth had all kinds of samples of what one can do with their products. Depending on the day they had different samples and demos, from bracelets, pizza cutters, pens, plates and more! Now that Amazing Clear Cast Resin has received FDA certification, meaning it’s food safe, you can even make plates and bowls from their resin!
President of Alumilite Mike Faupel, wanted to make sure all the samples were easy to see, pick up and handle to showcase the versatility of the products.
I did afternoon demos at the booth of my push molds such as those seen in my CHA Sneak Peak Post.
This year I wanted to make a booth display that was a little different. I started with vintage cabochon molds and used layers of Amazing Clear Cast Resin and Alumilite Metallic Powders, glitter and rhinestones. Each little cabochon was a mini galaxy piece that I wanted to attach to a gown.
I first started creating a caftan but I wasn’t happy with the look, so I saved the fabric for another project and rummaged through my collection of thrift store finds. I found a red glittery gown that had seen better days. I made some alterations, changing the straps, fitting and how the gown would drape. I slowly glued on each cabochon with 36000 and rhinestones with Gem-Tac, as suggested by my stunningly talented cousin Kathleen Rojas, owner of Oso Rojo Costumes.
With the addition of a cape, and making necklace my “Cosmic Radiation” gown went on on display at the Amazing Crafting Products/Alumilite Corp booth.
I was so happy with how the resin and inclusions sparkled under the bright trade show lights!
Come back later for Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2015 post, part 2!
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Craft & Hobby Association Mega Show 2014
It is that time of year again: my CHA Trade Show recap! CHA, otherwise know as the Craft and Hobby Association, decided to change it a bit this year by not having a Winter and Summer show but one big mega show! There were so many vendors, new products, demos, make n takes and networking opportunities at this show! I had a great time and met so many wonderful talented people but it was a very busy show! While this is not by far covering everything and everyone I saw at CHA, the following is some of the highlights I was able to take photos of.
This year I was asked to do demonstrations at the Amazing Crafting Products/Alumilite Booth, showing people how to make their own Art Themed Lapel Pins. I finally got to meet, in person, some of the other members of the Amazing Crafting Products design team.
Here is President of Alumilite Mike Faupel, Design Team Leader Susan M. Brown {sbartist}, staff member Carolyn Daly, and I at the Amazing Crafting Products booth.
Here I am demoing Amazing Mold Putty. It was wonderful to find so many people with interests in molding and casting their own artwork.
Artwork from the talented design team was on display at the Amazing Crafting Products booth, showcasing the detail and beautiful pieces they were able to make with the products.
Here is one of the demo tables at the Amazing Crafting Products booth, highlighting products and their many uses.
I got to see again the talented and ever gracious Mark Montano. He was signing his book line at the Eclectic Products booth and doing demos of crackle art frames at the DecoArt booth. I now have all of his books!
At the iLoveToCreate booth showcased several artists’ work in “Creativity Changes Everything” display. Mark Montano’s work was part of this display. He had created a lovely vignette, representing his creative career in home decor and fashion, along with a diary about his creative life printed directly on a dip-dyed dress.
ILoveToCreate booth also had this lovely decopauge piece made from rolled magazines. The lantern was made using Tulip One-Step Tie-Dye, Aleene’s Tacky Glue, and tissue paper!
I stumbled across the Nine Lives Products glue booth and was I glad I did! They make glue out of recycling styrofoam waste. They create three types of glue: Glu6 Nonporous, Glu6 Paste and Nine Live School Glue.
The Glu6 Non-Porous Glue is made from all-natural ingredients that non-toxically dissolve styrofoam waste, shrinking it by more than 30x its original size. The goo left over from this process they turn into non-toxic glue! Styrofoam piece shown in the photo is what goes into one tiny bottle of their glue.
The talented Suzann Sladcik Wilson, book author and CEO of Beadphoria, Inc. was at the Buttons Galore and More booth debuting her beautiful new button jewelry line. Her line of button jewelry kits come in all kinds of different themes, and include everything you need to make lovely rings and pendants.
Suzann was doing some demos at the booth. Here is just a small sample of what she made with her wonderful kits.
Buttons Galore and More also had a great line of miniature buttons for your mini crafting needs. I just had to buy some samples of to play with!
Lion Brand Yarn had a stunning “7 Wonders of the Yarn World” installation created by fiber-artist Nathan Vincent. I only got photos of 6 of the 7 wonders because of the crowds. You can go to the Lion Brand Yarn Blog to see more photos!
The installations that represent the “7 Wonders of the Yarn World” theme stand about 5 feet high or taller!
While doing resin demos I met a very nice lady, Fiona Lin of Linpeng International Inc. Her family’s company Fiona Accessories (named after her) had a bead booth with a wide selection of both loose beads and finished beaded accessories. Their specialty line is a series of hand painted beads and bracelets. While they often sell to museums, gift shops and supply beads for craft stores Fiona was more than willing to sell beads to me for my artwork.
I bought quite few strands of beads from Fiona to make new jewelry with. They had a wide variety of shapes, patterns and cuts of beads I had not seen elsewhere.
While wandering around the CHA show floor I came across this darling polar bear sculpture at the Activa booth. While they had this sculpture displayed at past shows I never got a chance to stop and see the detail. I was glad I did and I found out about all the different clay and sculpting materials they carry. I even ended up realizing I had been using some of their products while in college and had no idea! When they heard I did sculpture and mold work they gave me samples of Hearty, a non toxic air dry modeling clay and CelluClay, a non-toxic papier mache recycled paper medium to try out.
Seeing demos of making perfectly torn paper for paper crafting made me stop by the Perfect Paper Crafting booth. While marketed mostly towards paper crafting I see their tools having wonderful uses in mixed media art. My two favorite tools they carry is the Perfect Airbrush, that turns almost any marker into an airbrush and the Perfect Tears, that helps you make controlled, beautiful, soft, torn-paper-edges.I saw so much more that I didn’t get to photograph but in the next few months I hope to test out and show you all the new products I found.
Until next time, safe travels!
Ancient and Contemporary Inspired Artistry